NEWS

​On Wednesday, May 17th, Borough President James S. Oddo and members of the Petrides family and scholarship committee presented the Michael J. Petrides Student Award for Excellence in Mathematics and Science to Wesley Dai, a student at Staten Island Academy.

The annual award is given to a graduating high school senior who excels in math and science. Each Staten Island high school is asked to submit a single nominee, from which the honoree and runner-up are selected. The award is named for Michael J. Petrides, a legendary Staten Island educator, who died in 1994.

A leader in the classroom, Wesley Dai has achieved the highest academic average of any student at Staten Island Academy in the last 10 years. He received a perfect score of 2400 on his SAT as well as perfect scores of 800 on both the Math II and Chemistry SAT Subject Tests. This year, Wesley was selected as a candidate for the U.S. Department of Education’s prestigious Presidential Scholar’s Program. In addition, he was named a semifinalist for the National Merit Scholarship Program and an AP Scholar with Honor. Wesley serves as the president of his school’s Science Club and recently competed in the New York Metro Science Olympiad, where he finished in fifth place. Last summer, he co-authored a study based on research he did during an internship at The Spine and Pain Instiute of New York. The study was recently published in Pain Physician Journal, the official publication of the American Society of Interventional Pain Physicians. Along with his academic achievements, Wesley is a competitive swimmer. He will be attending Yale in the fall.

“The Petrides Award has been given to several extraordinary students over the years, and I’m happy to continue that tradition,” noted Borough President Oddo. “I’m impressed and encouraged by all of our nominees, who are the best and brightest in our community.”

Hanlin Miao of Monsignor Farrell High School was named first runner up.